Now everyone 16 and up can get a COVID-19 vaccine in SC. What to know in Rock Hill.

Less than a month after South Carolina expanded coronavirus vaccine eligibility to more than half its population, state officials are opening access up to everyone as of Wednesday, but in some areas of the state, such as Rock Hill, providers still are working to fill appointments for the state’s previous eligibility phase.

Gov. Henry McMaster and S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control officials decided Friday that all South Carolinians age 16 and older would be eligible for a COVID-19 vaccine shot beginning March 31. That pushed the state into its final vaccine distribution phase, known as Phase 2.

The move comes about a month ahead of schedule.

State health officials originally estimated they would move into the final rollout phase in May. They planned to institute another phase in mid-April, known as 1c, which would offer eligibility to anyone 45 and older and essential workers.

With the state’s vaccine supply continuing to increase and demand for shots lessening in parts of the state, officials said the decision to bypass 1c made sense.

“At the same time that we are receiving increases in the number of available vaccines coming into our state, we also know that there are places where vaccine appointments are going unfilled,” Nick Davidson, DHEC senior deputy for public health, said during a call Friday.

Less than 30 days ago, the state moved into Phase 1b, which offered access to anyone age 55 and older, people age 16-64 with preexisting conditions, and front-line essential workers. At first, demand far outstripped supply as the phase accounted for 2.7 million South Carolinians.

However, Davidson said Friday that the number of clinics unable to fill their appointments had accelerated in recent days.

“It certainly is and will continue to be a balancing act of providing enough vaccine, but also providing enough access,” Davidson said.

Is Rock Hill ready?

Rock Hill’s vaccination clinic has not been one of the S.C. providers struggling to fill available appointments, officials said.

Nearly 40% of all the doses administered in York County have come from the city’s vaccination site. The clinic, which works in partnership with Piedmont Medical Center, had given 29,090 first and second doses as of Tuesday.

When South Carolina moved into 1b earlier this month, appointments at Rock Hill’s clinic began to fill up almost immediately. That level of demand has not waned, city spokeswoman Katie Quinn said.

“Appointments are still filling rather quickly with the 1b group,” Quinn said. “With it opening to everyone, we’ll continue to make appointments available every week or so. Sometimes additional appointments get released on the day of, so we encourage people to keep checking.”

So far, there’s been just above 71,300 first and second doses administered in York County. About 25% of the county’s adult population — or 53,679 residents — have gotten at least one dose, according to South Carolina’s dashboard. The county has about 212,000 residents 15 and older.

With South Carolina moving into Phase 2, Quinn said the clinic expects to continue receiving the same vaccine supply of about 4,700 first and second doses.

“That’s about all the volume we can handle at our clinic, given staffing and space,” she said.

Quinn also suggested South Carolinians check availability at more than 30 other providers in and around Rock Hill.

Is SC ready?

This week, South Carolina will receive more than 160,000 doses, marking the state’s largest allotment to date. Additionally, Publix will be added as a federal pharmacy partner, which will increase the shipment directly to large retail pharmacies to about 75,000 doses.

So far, state vaccine providers have given more than 1.9 million first and second doses, according to DHEC data. As of Tuesday, more than 1,251,300 residents have received a first dose and more than 675,600 residents have received both. That’s about 17% of the state’s population.

At the start of Phase 2, state health officials expect a “rush” for appointments — similar to what the state experienced with 1b — but the high demand should ease after a few weeks, Davidson said.

“No doubt that in the coming days, and probably at least a couple of weeks, the vaccine availability will be less,” Davidson said.

In less than a month of Phase 1b, statewide providers vaccinated a good portion of the 2.7 million eligible individuals, officials said. Since March 8, officials administered 419,816 doses, averaging 23,323 doses per day.

“We’ll be as ready as we can be for this, in that there’s more vaccine on the shelves, more vaccine going to providers,” Davidson said.

Current vaccine providers for 1b

Eligible individuals can use DHEC’s online tool to find a nearby provider at scdhec.gov/vaxlocator.

People also can call the agency’s vaccine information line — 866-365-8110 — for details on how to schedule an appointment with nearby providers.

Rock Hill Piedmont Medical Center Community Vaccination Clinic (offering Pfizer-BioNTech)

• Galleria Mall, 2295 Dave Lyle Blvd., Rock Hill

How to schedule: The clinic is open from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday-Friday. Eligible patients should complete a vaccine request form. Patients will receive an email from the CDC with a link to register for an account in the federal Vaccine Administration Management System. Then patients can schedule an appointment.

The city also has a how-to guide. Or patients can call the clinic at 803-980-2684.

St. John’s United Methodist Church in Rock Hill is open from 1 to 5 p.m. Tuesday and Thursday to help people register.

MUSC-Health (offering Pfizer)

• 800 West Meeting St., Lancaster
• 1 Medical Park Drive, Chester

This story was originally published March 31, 2021 at 8:14 AM.

Cailyn Derickson

The Herald

Cailyn Derickson is a city government and politics reporter for The Herald, covering York, Chester and Lancaster counties. Cailyn graduated from The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She has previously worked at The Pilot and The News and Observer.